United Airlines joined several of its competitors by revamping its loyalty points program to base its rewards system on total dollars spent, not on miles traveled.

Other carriers such as Delta, Southwest and JetBlue have announced similar changes recently. United's change in its MileagePlus program takes effect March 1, 2015.

The switch allows the airlines to reward their biggest spenders and reduces the number of travelers who fly long distances on the cheapest fares to collect points.

“These changes are designed to more directly recognize the value of our members when they fly United,” said Thomas F. O’Toole, United’s senior vice president of marketing and loyalty and president of MileagePlus.

Brian Karimzad, director of the loyalty rewards comparison website MileCards.com, said the biggest losers in the overhaul are leisure travelers and long-haul coach travelers who typically fly on the cheapest seats.

The nation's largest airlines continue to rate low in customer satisfaction -- an average of only 69 on a scale of 1 to 100 points. Customer satisfaction with airlines ranks below satisfaction with insurance companies, fast food restaurants, utility companies and banks. Among the nation's largest air carriers, New York-based JetBlue scored highest for the third year in a row. But the satisfaction rating for four of the six largest airlines dropped in 2014 compared with the previous year. Even JetBlue's rating dropped. The rating by the American Customer Satisfaction Index found that the in-flight experience, especially seat comfort, has pulled the overall scores down. -- Hugo Martin (American Customer Satisfaction Index)

"A lot of business travelers spend weeks out of the year, flying on long trips, either across the U.S. or to international destinations, and their employer will only pay for the basic coach fare," he said on his website. "These are the biggest losers."

The new system also gives more mileage points per dollar spent to fliers with a higher airline status. For example, general passengers can earn five miles for every dollar spent while Premier Platinum members can earn nine miles per dollar. Premier 1K members can earn 11 miles per dollar.